I'm curious to see what other people think on this topic. How many Pokemon should the ideal Pokedex contain, and how many of these should be from each generation and how many new?

Did Gen V introduce too many, with its brand new dex? I don't mind it too much, because I limit myself to using new Pokemon only in my in game team. I had a bigger problem with X and Y having 450 or so to catch, with such a diluted pool of new mons.

To my mind, the right number of new Pokemon would be around 40 good new families - "good" referring to no PikaClones or overly gimmicky mons - totalling around 100 new mons. Then add in another 100 to 200 old Pokemon from past generations so that the mix is around 30 to 40% new and the rest returning.

100+. We're talking an entirely new generation here, it shouldn't be a watered down version of the previous gens but instead hold enough Pokémon to fill most of the region with them. That's what I liked a lot about Gen V and less about Gen II.

I've actually enjoyed the smaller Pokedexes that we've gotten in both Kalos and Alola. We're already sitting at over 800 Pokemon, so I'm cool if they just want to add 70-80 Pokemon at a time rather than 150.

I know trading has always been a major factor in Pokemon, and why we've had two versions for every generation. I realise that catching 'em all has become a monumental task now with 800+of the things, but honestly? A part of me always feels like the games are an incomplete experience just because not everything is in there to be caught, and I have to waste time and effort trawling back through older games for specific Pokemon...usually a very large percentage of them, even.

All the way back to Gen II I've felt this. I like being able to "catch 'em all" as the old slogan goes, that's why Blue Rescue Team remains my favourite Pokemon game.

And you know what makes Pokemon games enjoyable or tedious? Variety. The more variety there is, the more chance you'll enjoy yourself, because you'll get to use Pokemon you like, and there will be more ways for you to build your team to your satisfaction. It's very rigid and restrictive to limit the number of Pokemon in a game, to force the player to use things they may not necessarily like or find useful...this is why I struggled with Black and Sun, and why despite disliking it I managed to play through X without much difficulty. Lack of variety for the former, and abundance for the latter.

Regional Pokedexes should be abolished. I'm not saying over-saturate the routes with Pokemon like they did with X and Y, but...we have Day and Night. We have Seasons. We have two versions, and day of the week events, and grass rustling, and gift Pokemon, and Pokemon Radars, and so on. There are PLENTY of ways that they could include every Pokemon in a single generation without oversaturating the routes with them.

If you're asking about the right number of Pokemon in a generation, all I have to say is that there is no right size. Quality is more valuable than quantity, and a bigger number of new Pokemon does not mean anything in proportion to the quality of those new Pokemon. It all comes down to personal preference. In that instance, I'm fine with whatever.

I like the idea - especially given how I've never been able to complete the pokédex apart from the golden period between the release of HgSs and the end of the GTS in Gen IV - but I feel like in practicality it wouldn't work unless we're making a game the length of something like Assassin's Creed on a console. In your average sized pokémon game wee'd go from arguably having far too little variety in many games, to having like 8 different species of pokémon in the first route alone.

Personally I think the Platinum and HeartGold / SoulSilver regional pokédexes with ~250 pokémon each work quite well for playability - you get a good selection of different species of differing levels of power, and even have a choice between non-starter Fire-types!

I like the idea - especially given how I've never been able to complete the pokédex apart from the golden period between the release of HgSs and the end of the GTS in Gen IV - but I feel like in practicality it wouldn't work unless we're making a game the length of something like Assassin's Creed on a console. In your average sized pokémon game wee'd go from arguably having far too little variety in many games, to having like 8 different species of pokémon in the first route alone.

I disagree - I think it'd be quite possible to have a complete Pokedex in your average-sized Pokemon game. I mean, 802 sounds like a big number, but when you remember that there are 61 Legendary Pokemon, a lot of Pokemon that evolve via special methods (i.e. evolutionary stones, trading, friendship, etc.) that you wouldn't find in the wild anywhere, special Pokemon (fossils, and other one-offs like Type: Null) and second/third stage Pokemon you also wouldn't find in the wild, it cuts the number down pretty dramatically...I'd say the number of Pokemon you'd need to include as catchable in the wild would be closer to 500. I haven't figured it out precisely, but there are an awful lot you wouldn't have to have available to still be able to obtain them.

I don't think it that difficult, if the designers pull their fingers out of their collective arses and stop doubling up constantly on what is available along what route, and - more importantly - make use of all the game functions. Let's say there are an average of 5 Pokemon per route - 4 common, and 1 rare. So, how could they add to that without overpopulating them?

- Day and Night cycles
- Seasons
- Weather conditions
- Pokeradar/Dexnav
- Mixed terrain (i.e. grass patches along water routes, ponds along grassy routes, etc)
- QR codes
- Rustling grass
- Swarms
- Horde battles
- Days of the week (like how Drifloon was only available on Fridays)
- Headbutting trees, if there are any
- Version exclusives

These are just for routes, too. We also have landmarks like caves, man-made structures, Victory Road, etc. ORAS demonstrated that there is no issue with adding in a ton of Legendaries to the games, and asides from events like that there are also (sigh) roaming Legendaries that can be added. There have always been events where you can get one-off Pokemon like Type: Null, Riolu, Zorua, fossil Pokemon, etc.

The problem isn't lack of areas to put them, it's lack of variety in those areas, and Game Freak's stubborn stupidity in constantly cutting out features, or not utilising them to their full potential. Having the same Pokemon and it's evolutionary stage in every route in the game. Maybe the game would be a bigger undertaking, but the average-sized Pokemon game (in terms of places to explore, etc) wouldn't have to be, I don't think. Not with what we currently have, at least.

And I'm afraid the "it's more work for them" excuse just won't cut it, when the quantity of Pokemon available in titles, and the size of the regions, varies dramatically. There is no reason they couldn't do this. They just don't want to because it'd probably be seen as a "definitive" version of the game and people would have no reason to buy other versions after that. It's a reason that they don't do, but not a reason that they couldn't.

The ideal pokedex should have enough pokemon to have all type combinations.

I'm fine with a regional pokedex having around 400 pokemon, with as many or little new pokemon as it can. I don't really care about the distribution of pokemon according to generations, as long as there good type combinations (whiscash and walrein, is better than whiscash and quagsire for example).

At first I thought from the title that this thread was asking how big they should be if they were real.
As for numbers, I'm generally happy with around 200 to start with. That way you get an even-ish balance of new pokemon and old favourites before you unlock the rest.

I don't think we've ever had 200 Pokemon introduced in a region before, have we? That seems like quite a bit!

Unless you mean you'd like to see a larger Pokedex than what we've been given up to this point? :o

Oh, I meant including pokemon from other regions. I think 200 is the minimum amount it could be before opening it up to the national dex.
As for new introductions, I think 100 as a minimum would be really nice. But I doubt we'll ever get that again. :(

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